Ready for Your Dream Vacation?

The Norwegian Breakaway will be the newest addition to the Norwegian Cruise Line Fleet and is scheduled to set sail in the spring of 2013. This state-of-the-art ship will feature the best of what the current fleet has to offer such as the exclusive Haven, a relaxing pampering spa and a plethora of dining options. Guests will enjoy all the flexibility that Freestyle Cruising has to offer while sailing to the picturesque island of Bermuda. From award winning cuisine, family fun and daily entertainment as well as a wonderful staff and crew the Norwegian Breakaway is sure to be a destination all on its own. (source: Cruiseline.com)

The Beautiful Norwegian Breakaway

The ship was what I expected. Not much different than the Norwegian Epic. I love cruising so I always enjoy the cruising aspect. I think the ship is catering to a much younger crowd. The show "Rock of Ages" is definitely geared to a young audience and not recommended for children. Many of the older audience walked out during the performance. You can "walk the plank" over the ocean (I know there won't be older guest who will attempt this) and the ship touts the largest Aqua Park at sea. The ship has excellent dining options, both complimentary and cover charge. I refused to eat at Ocean Blue on the transatlantic cruise because doing seven days at sea, how fresh could the seafood really be? It's a $35.00 cover charge for this restaurant. All the restaurants on Deck 8 have both indoor and outdoor seating (The Waterfront) which will probably be very nice on the trips to Bermuda.
Hopefully adjustments will be made to gain access to the Thermal Spa Suites. The ship overbooked and sold additional passes which resulted in a very overcrowded Spa experience. Certainly not the relaxing experience it was supposed to be.
I had a Spa balcony cabin which was very nice. They made the cabins larger with a separate bathroom, however, the balconies are very, very small. If you're not careful you'll fall over.
Overall it was a good transatlantic cruise and I'll do the Bermuda itinerary this fall just to have that experience. But the ship really didn't "wow" me. I'm going back to the Epic.

Breakaway to Bermuda

With this being our 10th cruise and our 40th wedding anniversary we were excited to experience the brand new NCL Breakaway. First the positive: Entertainment was very good, make sure you do the Cirque show, definitely worth it, but don't pay the extra money for "premium seating". The specialty restaurants we tried were all amazing. The ease of getting around the ship was a plus as they had touch screen displays to guide you everywhere. Last night there were fireworks on the top deck! Great way to end the trip. Having cruised on the Epic last year we found ourselves comparing the two and my wife liked the Breakaway a little more I prefered the Epic, especially the stateroom. We had a mini-suite with a balcony, and the balcony is definitely smaller on Breakaway. Only drawback was the Breakaway had no first night specials, like other ships and the price at the spa was way too high.

Best ship on the ocean!!!

From the Stewards, dining staff and even in the spa! loved this ship, hope I can go again in Dec 2013--so many things to do on this ship---
loved my aft cabin

just got back...

It has been about 10 years since my last cruise and I think my expectations may have been off a little. While the Breakaway is a lovely ship, the sheer size of this ship means a LOT of passengers, and if you dont like crowds, this is not the ship for you. Be prepared to stand for many activities that take place in the main atrium, wait for dinner every night, (we waited for the main dining room every night for at least 20 minutes with some days as long as 45 minutes), be extremely close to others in the pool, etc. Being that this is a cruise that spends several full days at sea, you must bring your patience on the ship with you. You will be around others just about anywhere you go, so be prepared. Also be prepared to spend a boat load of money on the ship. Everything from the drinks to the photos, to the services, to the activities, are all expensive. Lastly, long gone are the days that the waiters made you feel special and knew you by name. I even remember them singing , joking, etc and they made dinner a lot of fun. No more...The freestyle dining means that you're just one of thousands of nameless cattle passing through so it's just all business, get in and get out. Keep in mind that the wait staff does not have to go out of their way to earn your gratuity any longer, nor does anyone else for that matter, as it is automatically charged to you. Now just to be fair, I just want to state that it wasnt all bad and I'm not saying I did not have a good time. My kids really liked the kids club, the water slides, and the mini golf. We also liked our oceanview stateroom which had good storage space, comfortable beds, and a much bigger bathroom than on other ships (even had a tub and two sinks!). Our cabin steward was very nice and the live entertainment on board was pretty talented. Oh, and the Carlo's cupcakes are really good also...
All in all, it was like any other vacation, fun at times, a hassle at times, expensive but worth it for the experience and the memories...

Smoke in the stateroom was unbearable

We paid to have a balcony on our stateroom. The first night there, we left the door open while we slept to have the fresh air and hear the ocean...in the middle of the night, we woke up and thought our room was on fire as we could smell smoke.
We determined that the smoke was coming from the next stateroom passengers who were smoking cigarettes on the balcony. We had to close the balcony door and went to guest services in the morning to address the situation.
They told us that cigarette smoking was allowed and we just had to keep our door closed if we didn't want any coming in our room. They said they would talk to the passengers but they couldn't tell them to stop as it is allowed.
The next night we had marijuana smoke coming in our room from the stateroom two doors down and throughout the entire week, we continued to have cigarette smoke in our room whenever we opened the door.
So basically, we paid for an upgraded room with a balcony and we couldn't utilize the balcony the entire week and couldn't even have the door open as the smell of smoke bothered both of us.
it really negatively affected our trip and certainly calls into question if I'd ever go on Norwegian again...i have cruised with Royal Caribbean 5-6 times previously and this was the first attempt to try someone else and i cannot see me using Norwegian again as the luck of the draw could mean that we have smoke in our rooms again on the next cruise.

Loved it!

First time cruisers and celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We loved the food, entertainment and service. We ate at several specialty restaurants (Ocean Blue, Moderno Churrascaria, Carney's & Cirque dinner show) and went to all the Broadway shows on board. The 80's theme night was just up my alley as it brought back such wonderful memories of our youth from 70's to 90's. I was amazed that with such a large ship, we didn't have any issues with waiting for anything. We couldn't have had a better time!

Category: IBSize: 129 sq. ft.Occupancy: Up to 3 guestsAmenities: Two lower beds that can be converted to a queen-size bed a pull-down bed bathroom with shower 26&quot; flat-screen TV mini-bar full-size closet and a safe.Please Note: Smoking is prohibited in all staterooms.